What notable things happened today?
A typical school morning for me involves me knocking and at times banging on the bathroom door trying to hustle the boy out in time to board the bus. Today, I jumped a level. In retrospect, it’s super hilarious, but I was super ticked off, while it happened.
So, picture this:
It’s 6:15 am and I’ve knocked on the door twice already, trying to hustle the boy out. I’ve been up since 4:15 am and am ready to sit down for a break. As I knock, I’ve gone through the lists in my head: I have packed the lunch boxes, coffee has been made for all, and water bottles are filled. Everything is kept where it should be because I know that the one person that’s going to rock that apple cart, is still behind the bathroom door. I am about to sit for my coffee, when I hear the faint, “Ma, can you come here please” from inside the bathroom. ‘Damn! The fool forgot his towel”, I think, and head to the room. What I hear instead is the sound of water flowing. And a faint, “That pipe thingie is broken”.
Now, I’m in a panic, I have no idea what ‘pipe thingie’ has broken and I need to see if the water is draining properly or if it is pooling somewhere. But. The door is still closed. 45 seconds later, the door opens and I get to see what the fuss is about. The bidet has a tear at the joint, and the angle cork that’s supposed to stop the flow of water is not shutting off. Damn! Of all the things to happen first thing in the morning, a pipe burst is not the most welcome.
I rush to the other room to find the toolbox, dig out the new monkey wrench, and hand it to my husband who is trying to shut the valve off. The wrench does not fit, so the valve remains open and water continues to flow. I rush back to the box and dig through some more because I know that I also have a set of spanners. It’s a full set of spanners, and not one of them fits. The water continues to flow. Nothing seems to work. Water keeps flowing. I am thinking of that crazy water bill I will be dealing with this month and think, ‘What else can I do to shut off the water?’ The random angle cork on the wall. “Yes! That must be it!’ Hoping for the best, I turned it off. Finally! The intensity of the water flow has reduced to a trickle, but it has not stopped. Phew!
I walked out of the bathroom to a relieved husband who wanted to know if I was pranking him by not shutting off the valve earlier. How do I explain to him that sometimes, it takes some time for the brain cells to click into the right gear? While this is happening, the boy has rushed through getting ready, has pulled a pair of shoes from the shelf, and has taken off. Damn! That is not his shoes. He has taken my husband’s office shoes to wear to school! “The FOOL!” I don’t understand how he cannot identify his shoes, since he constantly shoves them under the shelf. The same size. It’s the same color. Kept in the same place. The confusion is bound to rise. Irritated, but with all that adrenaline pumping through, I pick up his shoes and rush out of the door. “The fool has to keep track of where he leaves his stuff, he can’t keep rushing off with someone else’s things because he is late. I will have to talk to him about discipline and punctuality again’, I think to myself. Aaargh!! I’m irritated and super super ticked off. With the right pair of shoes in my hand, I ran down the stairs, chasing after him, ‘How can he be so careless? The fool!’
Thankfully, my husband came to the balcony and stopped my kid from running off, “Mum’s bringing your shoes down. Wait. Change the shoes’, he says. In less than 10 seconds, I reach him, with the right pair, he tries removing the shoes, but the lace knots up, and frustrated, he just kicks off the shoes, shoves his foot in the right pair, and turns to see the bus driving off in the distance. He has missed the bus, so he runs off chasing after the bus, I shout after him, ‘Let me know you got on the bus’. He yells, ‘Sure’ and is off. Now, here I am, standing downstairs in my nightwear, wearing my home slipper. I never ever wear my home slippers outside the house. I have a pair of identical slippers one for inside the house and one for everything else. I never wear the slippers I wear inside the house to go out. I don’t have my phone. I did not wait to get the access card. All I have in my hand is a pair of formal black shoes. I walk to the door to find that the newspaper has been delivered outside the building access door. So I pick up the newspaper and ring the doorbell, to be let in. I slowly make my way up the stairs, trudging with a pair of shoes in one hand and a couple of newspapers in the other.
I reached home to find that the front door was left wide open. Hoping no pests crawled in, I dropped off the shoes and our copy of the newspaper to head out to deliver the other to my neighbor. I came back in, washed my hands, and saw that the bathroom was wet and the bathmats were squelching under my foot, so I removed it and loaded it in the wash. I then come back to the table to sit and maybe consider that cup of coffee only to realize that at some point in all the confusion and up and down, I had finished my cup of coffee. The valve is shut off, but the water flow has not completely stopped. I call the emergency maintenance team to raise a complaint and after getting a complaint number I hang up. I know that the pipe is cut and the angle cork is not working, so I have made a mention of this in my complaint. A few minutes later, the team came and replaced the torn pipe and left, stating that replacing the angle cork would require a fresh work order. I sign off this team and get back to making another call to the maintenance office to book the next work order. Once I had done this, I decided to head to have a shower and start my day.
The plumber eventually replaced the angle cork and the bidet and left the bathroom wet. Again! They say, ‘Three times the charm’, hopefully, it’s the last time I clean the bathroom. The corridor heading to the bathroom, and the path from the door to the bathroom have been cleaned four times. The service team always wears plastic covers on their boots when they come inside to complete repairs. But, after stepping in water, even if I don’t get a print of a dirty shoe indoors, I get a print of the shoe covered by a plastic cover. It’s only been 6 hours since I woke up this morning, and I’ve had quite the day. Notable! Don’t you think!
I love active days. I don’t mind the occasional walk. I will even agree to a brisk walk. But rushing out of the house in nightwear and holding a pair of shoes, is like a dramatic walk of shame. And it’s not even my walk of shame, it should be the boy’s! The lengths I go to as a Mum, on the path to get the boy to be a little more disciplined and responsible!!
Just a little more 